1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magnetic recording and reproduction apparatus for recording information to, and/or reproducing information from, a magnetic tape.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, in the field of magnetic recording and reproduction apparatuses, reduction of size, reduction of number of components, and simplification of structure have been actively pursued. Especially, a loading mechanism, which has a very complicated structure and includes a large number of components, significantly influences the size and cost of the video tape recorders. The development of the loading mechanism is very important.
Hereinafter, a conventional tape loading mechanism described in Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 11-328773 will be described with reference to FIGS. 10 and 11.
FIG. 10 is a plan view of the conventional magnetic recording and reproduction apparatus at a cassette mountable position. FIG. 11 is a plan view of the conventional magnetic recording and reproduction apparatus at a tape pull-out completion position.
In FIGS. 10 and 11, reference numeral 101 represents a chassis, reference numeral 102 represents a cylinder base provided on the chassis 101, and reference numeral 103 represents a rotatable head cylinder secured on the cylinder base 102. Reference numeral 104 represents a cassette which accommodates a tape 105 therein. Reference numeral 106 represents a rail which is secured to the chassis 101 by screws 107a, 107b, 107c, 107d and 107e. Reference numerals 108a and 108b each represent a boat. The boat 108a has tape pull-out posts 109a and 109b provided thereon, and the boat 108b has tape pull-out posts 109c and 109d provided thereon. The rail 106 holds and guides the boats 108a and 108b toward the cylinder base 102. The boats 108a and 108b are driven by a boat driving section (not shown), guided toward the cylinder base 102, and positioned at prescribed positions in the vicinity of the rotatable head cylinder 103 by a boat positioning section (not shown). As the boats 108a and 108b move in this way, the tape 105 in the cassette 104 is pulled out from the position shown in FIG. 10 and is wound around the rotatable head cylinder 103 as shown in FIG. 11.
The above-described structure of the conventional magnetic recording and reproduction apparatus has the following problems.
The above structure requires the rail, which is a complicated and a large component, and also requires an attaching section for securing the rail to the chassis, a space for the attaching section, and screws for attaching the rail to the chassis.
As a result, the number of components is increased, which in turn increases the cost of the tape loading mechanism. In addition, the size of the mechanism is enlarged for obtaining the space for the rail, and the freedom of design of the tape loading section is restricted.